Sunday, September 7, 2008

Hamilton stripped of Spa victory

Lewis Hamilton, who was apparently “Singing’ in the Rain...” After taking a dramatic late race victory over the Original Iceman, a.k.a. Kimi Raikkonen, has subsequently been handed a 25 second time penalty for overtaking Raikkonen in the chicane, thus gifting the win to second place Felipe Massa, moving surprise third place Nick Heidfeld into second and dropping Hamilton to third!

Toyota’s Timo Glock was also docked 25 seconds for passing under a local yellow flag and drops from the final points scoring position of eighth to ninth, with Mark Webber being given the single point for eighth place.

Yet, McLaren has appealed the FIA Steward’s ruling and thus we’ll wait with baited breath to see if MAD MAX (Mosley) instructs his minions to cut his good friend the Ronster, a.k.a. Ron Dennis a break? As the revised results would see an eight point swing in both the Driver’s and Constructor’s titles...

"Mad Max!" That's great!The FIA's and Formula steward's pandering to Ferrari is obvious. If it doesn't change this pandering will drive fans away from this sport. But this decision is only about points and money. If you remember, earlier this season Kimi's Ferrari had an issue with an exhaust pipe breaking loose. He wasn't directed to the pits to have it removed (not before or after his pitstop), nor was he black flagged. The lack of action against Ferrari in this instance could have resulted in the injury, or death, of another driver, fan, or track side worker. Luckily, the pipe broke loose and landed in a gravel trap. But, how would the FIA explain why they hadn't taken action if someone had been injured or killed?

Excellent point... So it will be very interesting to see what comes out of the hastily scheduled Appeal going to the World Council the Monday before Singapore, as over 55,000+ fans also seem to think that once again the red cars have gotten away with something...